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1. The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages (1300-1450) Or “The Calamitous 14th c.”
2. Introduction
3. Why the “calamitous 14th c.”? From historian Barbara Tuchman’s The Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th c.
Her thesis: when the gap between the ideal and the real [in society] becomes too wide, the system breaks down.
4. Essential Questions & Objectives Questions:
In what ways was the 14th c. “calamitous”?
To what extent is Tuchman’s thesis accurate?
Objectives:
Recognize the geography of Europe in the later Middle Ages.
Identify events that have resulted in the use of the term “calamitous” to describe the 14th c.
Describe the social characteristics of the 14th c.
5. Geography
7. Geography of Europe in 1300 Europe = many small states!!
Major states at this time:
England Scotland Norway
Sweden Portugal Denmark
France Bohemia (= Czech Republic today)
Austria Teutonic Order (= Baltic states today)
Do not yet exist as we know them today:
Spain = Castile, Aragon, Granada, Navarre; not united
Italy = Sicily, Papal States, + others; not united
Germany = not united; part of Holy Roman Empire
Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg = the Low Countries
Russia = group of principalities; Mongol Yoke (1237-1480)
Nations of SE Europe = part of Byzantine Empire
10. Geography of Europe in 1400 From 1300-1400 states consolidated their holdings = fewer small states
Major states at this time:
England Union of Kalmar = Norway, Sweden, Denmark
Scotland Poland-Lithuania
Portugal Bohemia
France Hungary
Austria Wallachia (= Romania today)
Ottoman Empire
Do not yet exist as we know them today:
Spain, Italy, Germay = still not united
Russia = still under Mongol Yoke (1237-1480)
11. Events In what ways was the 14th c. “calamitous”?
12. (1) Great Famine (1315-1322)
13. Causes price inflation
In 1315 the price of wheat rose 800%
3 SFHS cookies cost $1.25.
With 800% inflation ? $10!
In 1303 and 1306-1307, the Baltic Sea froze!
14. Consequences ? susceptibility to disease
later marriage
? population
? homeless
rich farmers buy out poor farmers
volatile land market
unemployment
migration of young males to towns
? crime
Int’l trade = consequences spread far
Gov’t. responses ineffective
15. (2) Black Death (1348) Boccaccio in The Decameron:
The victims ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors.
16. Causes famine ? susceptibility to disease
advances in shipbuilding
Genoese traders carry black rats from the Crimea
urban overcrowding & poor sanitation
20. The Mortality Rate
21. Consequences – Social pogroms against Jews
merchants endow hospitals
migration
clergy care for sick
The burning of Jews in 1349
22. Consequences – Economic ? unemployment
craft guilds take new members
inflation
? productivity, wages, & standard of living
Wage Increase
23. Consequences – Psychological/Cultural pessimism
art & lit – theme of death
flagellants
new colleges & universities – more localized
culturally Europe becomes more divided
24. (3) Hundred Years’ War (ca 1337-1453) Battle of Sluys (1340). Illustration from a manuscript of Froissart’s Chronicles.
25. Causes 1: Controversy over succession to French throne Charles IV of France dies heirless
French nobility selects Philip VI of Valois
Chosen over Edward III of England
“no woman or her son could succeed to the [French] monarchy”
1340 – proclaims himself King of France
26. Causes 2: French land belonging to British monarchy English claim Aquitaine as ancient inheritance & occupy it as vassal to French crown
Philip VI confiscates Aquitaine in 1337
27. Causes 3: Struggle for French national identity France disunited
French vassals of Philip VI side with Edward III to assert independence from French crown
28. Causes 4: Wool trade & control of Flanders Wool trade b/t England & Flanders
Flanders = French fief
Flanders wants independence from French rule & asks English for help
29. Course 1: English Winning at 1st Crécy, Calais, Poitiers, Agincourt
English longbow
vs. French crossbow
Cannon
30. Height of English Dominance, 1429
31. Course 2: French Victory Joan of Arc to the rescue!
Orléans = turning point
32. Consequences
33. France becomes unified!
34. (4) Church in Decline
35. Babylonian Captivity (1309-1376) Pope in Avignon
Popes live extravagantly
Rome left in poverty
Clement V
36. Great Schism (1376-1417) 2 popes!! (Rome & Avignon)
Gregory XI brings papacy back to Rome
Urban VI (Rome) – aggressive reform causes anger & second election
Clement VII (Avignon) – “antipope”
37. Great Schism divides Europe politically
38. Conciliarism: Theory Reform movement
Pope derives power from entire Christian community
Constitutional structure: pope + general council
39. Conciliarism: Practice Council of Pisa (1409) ? 3 popes!!
Council of Constance (1414-1418) – 3 goals:
end Great Schism
end heresy
reform church
40. (5) Fur collar crime Nobles attack rich and poor to raise money
41. (6) Peasant Revolts Jacquerie (1358)
Causes:
Long-term socioeconomic grievances
100 Years War – taxation
Result: Crushed by nobility English Peasants’ Revolt (1381)
Causes:
Long-term socioeconomic grievances (Statute of Laborers freezes wages)
Urging by preachers
100 Years War – French raids
Head tax on adult males
Result: Crushed by Richard II but serfdom disappeared by 1550
42. Society Life went on even in the face of calamity.
What did 14th c. society look like?
43. Marriage & Family
Arranged
Based on economics (vs. ?)
Age: men in mid-late 20s, women <20
Children = objects of affection
No divorce (annulments in rare cases) Prostitution
Legal & regulated
Not respected
Urban
44. Life in the Parish Work
Rural: farming
Urban: craft guilds – hard to enter (more open post-plague)
Women “inferior” ? limited opportunities
Religion
Central to life
? lay control over parish affairs Recreation
Aristocracy: tournaments
Commoners: archery, wrestling, alcohol
Both: “blood sports,” executions
45. Race & Ethnicity on the Frontiers Migration of peoples to frontier regions
“race”/“ethnicity” = used to mean language, customs, laws (vs. blood)
Legal dualism: natives subject to local laws & newcomers subject to laws of former homeland
Ireland as exception – Statute of Kilkenny (1366)
As time passed, moved away from legal dualism toward homogeneity & emphasis on blood descent
Dalimil Chronicle
46. Vernacular Literature Dante, Divine Commedy (Italy)
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales (England)
Villon, Lais & Grand Testament (France)
Christine de Pisan, The City of Ladies, etc. (France)
? lay literacy – due to needs of commerce & gov’t.